


Rewrite the Stars

by bilgegungoren00



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Humans AU, Ice Dancing, Ice Skating, Olympics, and slight fluff, ice dance au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 04:22:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13919277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bilgegungoren00/pseuds/bilgegungoren00
Summary: Mon-El and Kara had been ice dance partners, friends, and a little bit more for more than 17 years, so much so that they believe nothing can tear them apart. But when a bad decision, a lie, and a series of misunderstandings threaten to tear them apart, both of them will have to face the possibility of having to live without each other - and that might be harder than they could've ever imagined.Karamel Ice Skating AU





	1. Partners

**Author's Note:**

> heyyy y'all!
> 
> sooo I don't know if you know the Olympic ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir - and, well, if you don't, just google them and watch some of their performances because they're amazing, but anyway - but i've kind of been obsessed with them for the last couple of days. And when one of my readers, Kayla, asked me to write a Karamel fanfiction inspired by them, i racked my brain to find something, and this is what i came up with. so i hope you enjoy this!
> 
> p.s. props to anyone who knows which movie is the song in the title name is from :)
> 
> p.s.2. seriously, though, go watch tessa and scott. you won't regret it

__

_What if we rewrite the stars?_  
_Say you were made to be mine_  
_Nothing could keep us apart  
_ _You'd be the one I was meant to find_

* * *

Working with the same partner for more than fifteen years had its perks, Kara had to admit. You spent so much time together with them that you got to know them inside and out, and that’s exactly what had happened with her and Mon-El. Over the years, they’d grown accustomed to each other’s habits, pet peeves, hobbies, vulnerabilities, everything, so much so that she couldn’t help thinking Mon-El knew her better than anyone. And she also felt like she could entrust Mon-El with things she wouldn’t dare tell even her family.

But there were also downsides of having a partner for a long time, and that was…you got to know them inside and out, enough to know when the other was worried or scared. Which had exactly what happened now.

“Kara.” Mon-El’s voice cut through Kara’s tense nerves as he put a hand on her knee, stopping it from jittering. She looked up at her partner. “Relax. You’re going to be great.”

Well, of course, he also knew what she was worried about before she said a word. She ran her fingers through her hair as she stared at the ice rink to her right.

“I’m fine,” she lied. Anyone that took one glance at her would know she was not fine. “I’m not worried.”

“You’re crinkling,” Mon-El countered, as if that fact alone would show that she was, indeed, worried. And, well… She did tend to crinkle whenever she was worried… “And before you say that you’re not, I just want to say, you know I can tell whenever you’re lying, right?”

She couldn’t say anything to that. Instead, she just nibbled on her lower lip, looking at the scoreboard, showing the rankings of all the previous ice dancers. _Olympic_ ice dancers, no less. Kara and Mon-El were one of the few who was competing at the Olympics for the first time.

“Gee, thanks for making me feel bad about getting worried. Because it’s not like we’re competing at the Olympics, right? Or that this might be the biggest event of our lives yet? What’s there to be worried about?” Mon-El just chuckled at her comment.

“I didn’t say there was nothing to be worried about.” Kara shot him a glare. “I just said that you were going to be great, so there’s nothing you should be worried about.”

“It’s not enough to be great,” Kara objected quietly, looking at the ice dancers on the rink that were currently presenting their performance. They were so good that they made Kara doubt her skills, and usually, she was the kind of person who trusted herself in pretty much anything. But now… “We have to be _perfect,_ Mon-El. Like, perfectly perfect. Immaculate.”

“We will be,” Mon-El insisted, as if it was so _easy_ for him. Kara felt the sudden urge to throttle him, as she very frequently did, when Mon-El was being exceptionally annoying for the sake of being annoying—and no, she’d never admit that she actually enjoyed having these friendly banters with him.

_“No mistake_ , Mon-El,” she emphasized, widening her eyes to make the situation even more dramatic. “Not one.”

“And how many times have we practiced this _perfectly_?” With Mon-El’s question, Kara opened her mouth to say “not enough times,” but she stopped herself. Technically, they’d done this dance routine hundreds of times, enough that if she closed her eyes, she could picture how every move felt easily. Unable to come up with an objection to Mon-El’s words, she opted to pout.

“Don’t tell me you’re not worried, too,” she said instead. And she knew he was worried. It was written all over his face. “You speak too quietly when you’re worried, and right now you’re speaking very quietly. Don’t you dare object.”

“Hey, I never said I wasn’t worried. But I also know that as long as you’re by my side—“ His words were interrupted by the announcement booming through the ice rink. Kara gulped. It seemed like it was their turn now.

“Well,” she whispered dryly. “It seems like it’s our turn.” She could barely hear the applause coming from the audience, could barely hear the words of the announcer’s voice booming through the ice ring. She could barely even feel her and Mon-El’s coach and dance choreographer, James Olsen, guiding her up from her seat. She assumed he must’ve bid them luck, but with her nerves taut and all her focus on getting the damn dance right, she could only smile and nod.

And then she felt Mon-El’s hand slipping into hers, lacing their fingers together as they made their way to the ice rink. That touch, somehow, was able to pull her to the real world. She couldn’t help looking up at Mon-El and saw his small smile; it was encouraging, in a way that calmed her nerves, but anxious enough that she didn’t feel bad about freaking out over this whole thing. Well, Mon-El did know how best to calm her, didn’t he? Seventeen years of partnership, friendship, and something a bit more than any of that tended to do that.

Kara had always struggled to put a certain name on the relationship between them, to be honest. She couldn’t say it was a partnership. It sounded too professional for the level of connection they had. Yes, they _were_ partners, in a way. They were ice dancers—Olympic ice dancers now, Kara couldn’t help thinking—and ice dancing was _technically_ their job. They earned their living from it, at the end. But classifying ice dancing as a job also didn’t feel right to Kara, because job was something every adult complained about pretty much every day. Nobody seemed to _really_ enjoy their job, and Kara loved ice dancing way too much for that. Nothing felt better than getting on ice with Mon-El by her side, letting out all her thoughts and worries and letting herself go to the music, the movement of her skates on the ice, Mon-El’s reassuring hands she felt on her waist, and the rhythm of the music ringing through her ear. She felt the best version of herself when she was ice dancing, and it was made even more amazing with Mon-El’s presence. With that much of love, that much of a bond between them, how could it just be a partnership?

Was friendship the right word for it, then? It sounded certainly better than partnership. It sounded more intimate, more _personal_. A friend was someone you could trust no matter what, someone you could lean on in the hard times; a friend was the family that you chose. And Mon-El certainly did feel like a family at times. But wasn’t she the one that just thought she could tell Mon-El the things she wouldn’t tell even her family members? That certainly would indicate that their relationship was stronger than mere friendship. And, well, if she had to admit, even _friendship_ sounded too fragile for what they had. Even the strongest friendships could be broken by something big. Yet it seemed like, to her at least, that her bond with Mon-El was way too strong to be broken by anything. While there were a lot of uncertain things in her future, she saw two things as constants: Mon-El and ice dancing.

But that didn’t mean there was anything romantic between them! She knew all of that sounded a bit borderline romantic to anyone who didn’t know her and Mon-El personally—and she was also aware of the number of fanfictions and fan pages dedicated to “shipping” them, as the kids today said, online—but there wasn’t anything going on between them romantically. They were just really, really, really close friends, not romantic partners. Granted, with all those talks about their future and being together and all, they might as well be in a relationship, but there wasn’t anything physical going on between them. Well, outside of the ice rink at least. And except hugging. Or the occasional cuddling on the couch. Or the small touches they offered each other to remind themselves that they were together. Or the—

Well, they weren’t kissing, at least! Whatever. It was just that their relationship was really hard to decipher for someone who didn’t know them intimately. And maybe that was why they’d never be able to understand the comfort Kara felt getting on the ice when Mon-El was by her side. Even knowing that this was the Olympics, even knowing the stakes and just how _good_ it would feel to win, the moment her skates fell onto the ice, a sense of familiarity passed over her. She felt her shoulders relax as she smiled at Mon-El, not only reminding him that she was there with him, but also telling him that they got this—something, if she had to be honest, Mon-El was trying to make her realize all this time. But only now it hit her, only now Kara realized that she didn’t need to sell herself short. They’d practiced this dance for what felt like forever. They’d been ice dancing together for literally _forever—_ or at least long enough that they’d stopped counting the years. If there was one thing they knew how to do, one thing they _excelled_ at, it was this.

They got into place, Kara’s back pressed against Mon-El’s back, their fingers brushing each other. The announcer’s voice rang through the stadium. “Our next skaters are skating to Rewrite the Stars from The Greatest Showman. Representing U.S.A., Kara Danvers and Mon-El Matthews.” A smile pulled her lips when she heard their names. Closing her eyes, she repeated what she already believed in: _We can do this._

The music started, and she pushed herself away from Mon-El, moving to the rhythm of all too familiar notes.

It was crazy to think how easily this came to her now, considering that ice dancing wasn’t actually an easy sport. She could imagine, though, what Mon-El would say to that. “We’d _literally_ been skating for seventeen years, Kara. Every single day.” Which…was true. Ever since she was seven and he was eight, they’d been ice dance partners. She still remembered those first couple of months of training together, albeit vaguely. It had been…awkward. None of them had tried anything like that before, and while Kara had skates on her feet for as long as she remembered, it was the first time she skated with someone else. And to do it every single day, even waking up at four a.m. to train before they went to school… There were times her childhood brain thought that it was too much and it wouldn’t be worth it.

But that was only the first couple of months. After that… It’d turned into something beautiful so quickly that it had even surprised her. She’d started to look forward to even their early morning practices. She’d started doing her homework as quickly as possible so that she could go to the ice rink with Mon-El. She even agreed, in middle school, to be homeschooled with Mon-El instead of going to a public school, so that they could adjust the hours according to their practices.

They’d won their first gold medal at a national competition when they were only thirteen and fourteen, and the next year, at a worldwide competition. That was the first time Kara realized that all those early practices, sleepless day, the struggle of balancing schoolwork with ice dancing had been worth it after all. Standing on the podium with Mon-El by her side and a gold medal around her neck… It was only second to actually skating. It was too easy a decision to forgo college after high school to commit 100% to ice dancing. Ever since then, they’d earned a couple of competitions here and there, both national and international, yet nothing as big as the Olympics. This was… This was supposed to be their big debut. The biggest thing they’d done their entire career. They had to give all of themselves to this and more.

She wouldn’t say that their _entire_ career depended on it, but it certainly would be nice to win.

She also couldn’t help admitting, though, as her skates slid on ice, as the music washed over her, and as she and Mon-El moved with the notes, winning wasn’t exactly at the forefront of her mind. She only thought about that when the song ended and she was standing in front of Mon-El, staring up at him.

The whole stadium erupted in applause.

And then she was in Mon-El’s arms and he was spinning her around. “We did it!” she assumed he said, yet she couldn’t hear him clearly with the ringing in her ears and laugh bubbling in her chest. “We did it.”

They’d done it. And that standing ovation… That was a win in itself, Kara thought as they took their bows, Mon-El’s shaky hand holding hers tightly.

Yet she did have to admit, it did feel incredibly good to be announced as the winner of the _Olympics_ as well.

* * *

_It's up to you_  
_And it's up to me_  
_No one can say what we get to be_  
_Why don't we rewrite the stars?  
_ _Changing the world to be ours_


	2. Champagne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello hello y'all!
> 
> so sorry this took me like FOREVER to post, but it has kinda been a crazy couple of weeks here and i could barely finish this chapter. hopefully, the next one won't take so long to post! :)
> 
> love ya, and hope you enjoy this!

__

* * *

_Hand in my hand and we promised to never let go_  
_We're walking the tightrope_  
 _High in the sky_  
 _We can see the whole world down below_  
 _We're walking the tightrope_

* * *

“To Kara and Mon-El.” James lifted the champagne glass in her hand in Kara and Mon-El’s direction, a smile playing on his lips. “They’ve not only made us proud but exceeded what, I think I can confidently say, we’ve all expected from them. Congratulations, guys.”

Mon-El found himself smiling with James’s words before his eyes flickered to Kara. They were sitting in a quiet corner of their hotel’s bar, which James had booked for his “Olympic gold medalists”—it still felt too unbelievable to Mon-El that he and Kara _actually_ won the Olympics—so that they could celebrate their win. And God, after weeks and months of working, after all those practices and training, after every single length Kara and Mon-El’s team went to ensure that they were successful, they deserved this celebration. He and Kara might’ve been the ones on that ice, they might’ve been the ones that won those medals, but without their team, it would have been impossible. Alex, Kara’s sister who’d always been supportive of them, Hank, their PR consultant, Eve, the choreographer that worked with James, and Winn, Kara and Mon-El’s best friend for years that they somehow convinced to come with them to Pyeongchang for the Olympics. As someone who hated planes, it had been a miracle, but he couldn’t let his best friends down on their _Olympics._

Even though he gorged on wine on the plane to keep his head buzzed, and caused…a bit of a mess.

Pushing away his thoughts, Mon-El couldn’t help glancing at Kara. He also had to admit that, besides their team, this would’ve also been impossible for him without her. She was the one that kept him going. She was the one that made him love ice dancing, that made him want to do it. There were a lot of things he couldn’t do for himself, but for Kara, he’d make even the most impossible things possible.

“To us,” Kara said as an answer to James’s words, clinking her champagne glass to Mon-El’s. “Wow. That sounded a bit too self-centered than I’d imagined in my head.” Mon-El couldn’t help laughing at her.

“I think we’re allowed to be a bit self-centered today.”

“Well, _of course_ you’d say that, you smug…smug…jerk-face.” Mon-El arched his brow.

“Is that the best insult that you can come up with?”

“Oh, shut up.” She lightly shoved him to the side, yet even then she was unable to stop her laughter. Mon-El had always found it so funny just how smooth Kara was at talking in all those interviews or talk-shows, but when it came to friendly gatherings, she stumbled over her words a lot. Just hours ago they’d left an interview, and _she_ was the one that carried it.

Well, granted, a reason for that was because he was so mesmerized by her that he couldn’t get out a word, but whatever.

Honestly, though… Mon-El didn’t mind Kara taking over in interviews. He didn’t mind how awkwardly cute she could be behind closed doors. He didn’t mind her quirks and flaws. She wouldn’t be Kara without them, at the end.

She wouldn’t be the girl he’d fallen in love with.

And yes, after about six years of being in love with her, Mon-El could admit that. There was no point in denying anyway.

It’d started, at first, as just a fondness. But that was something you could feel to anyone you spent most of the day with. And Kara and he had been spending about eight hours together for more than ten years then. It was easy, especially for a teenager, to have the line between friendship and romance blur with someone you were _that_ close to. Mon-El thought that would be it as well; his feelings for Kara would only stay as respect, friendship, and a bit of fondness. Nothing more.

He had to admit that there was something more there when those feelings persisted even after two years. Then, he had to consider at least the possibility that he might’ve fallen for her ice dancing partner. He’d always thought    the person Kara chose to be together with would be extremely lucky, he got a bit jealous of everyone she felt interested in, he tended to get overprotective with her about her boyfriends, and before that, he’d assumed those were all because they were really close friends and he wanted the best for her. Only then he had to admit that he might’ve felt all those because he loved her. In the… In a romantic way.

He’d been hiding it ever since. His feelings. Well, it wasn’t like he could tell _Kara_ about them. He could trust her with any secret, even the most embarrassing ones, but not…not this. It could be catastrophic for them. One reason they were so good at ice dancing was that they worked so _well_ together. They had a bond that transcended everything. Unwanted feelings, though… They could break that bond so easily. A bit of awkwardness between them, a bit of discomfort, and it would ruin everything.

He didn’t want that to happen. Even if it meant that he had to live with the pain of unrequited love. He could take staying as just friends with Kara, but losing her would definitely ruin him.

Though admittedly, one could make an argument about how confessing his feelings might advance their relationship to the next level, but for that, Kara would have to reciprocate his feelings. And Mon-El knew for a fact that she didn’t. It wasn’t like people _never_ asked them in interviews whether they were dating or not. While the question would always cause him to laugh awkwardly, Kara’s answer was always the same. “I mean, we do have a very close relationship, but I… I wouldn’t call it _romantic_. Don’t believe everything you see us do on ice, you know. Just like any dance, ice dancing involves a bit of acting, too. We’re just playing the parts that our dance dictates, whether romantic or not.”

A.k.a., we’re not actually in love.

“Earth to Mon-El.” Mon-El blinked away from his thoughts with Kara’s voice. She was staring at him with confused eyes and an arched brow. “You okay? You’ve been staring at me for an _awkwardly_ long time, even for us.”

He had to force a smile, even though the question made his heart squeeze. He couldn’t let her know that something was wrong. Period. He loved what they had now, and he wasn’t ruining it.

“Yeah. I was just thinking about… You know, how lucky we were. I mean, think about it. Our parents partnered us up when we were seven. We didn’t even have a choice in the matter.” A secret smile pulled Kara’s lips.

“Well… Actually, that’s not entirely true.” Mon-El lifted his brows. Was there a secret story behind this that he didn’t know?

Straightening up, he put his champagne on the table. He’d already forgotten that they weren’t alone in the room as he got lost in the conversation with Kara.

“Is there something that I don’t know?” Kara shrugged as if it was nothing, but there was a hint of mischief in her eyes, something that told Mon-El this wasn’t as simple as she pretended it to be.

“When I told my parents that I wanted to do ice dancing, they looked for a number of potential partners before I even met you. You were just the one I said yes to.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I thought you were hot in kind of a nerdy way. And… Well, you did look like that boy in my second-grade class that I kind of had a crush on.”

Mon-El almost spat out his champagne. _Almost._

“I looked like _what?”_

Kara ducked her chin and hid behind her champagne glass. Her cheeks had blushed, either from embarrassment or holding back a laugh.

“Not a _what,_ a _who._ My second-grade crush.” Mon-El blinked at her. “He was _hot_ for a second grader.” Mon-El blinked some more. “I’d think saying you look like him would be a compliment.”

This time, a light chuckle left Mon-El’s lips unintentionally, with surprise and…and something else that was flickering in his heart. Something that he tried to smother quickly. “Saying my _second-grade_ self looked like him,” he couldn’t help remarking. Kara rolled her eyes.

“Oh, come on, you whiny baby. You’re still hot.”

Mon-El was glad Kara decided to gorge on her champagne and the chocolate-covered strawberries on the table instead of looking at him so that she missed his blush. He tried to put on a cheeky smile on his face. “Wow. Now I feel flattered.” Kara sent him a glare. She was about to say something…when her thoughts were interrupted by Alex’s whisper.

“Do they know that they’re not alone?”

“Um… I’m gonna go with a _no_ —Hey!” Winn stopped when Kara threw him a chocolate-covered strawberry, staining his plaid shirt. “What was that for?”

“You _know_ what that’s for. And damn you for making me waste a chocolate-covered strawberry to make my point.” While Winn was glaring at her, Mon-El only smiled, her gaze sliding over Kara.

 _That’s my girl,_ he couldn’t help thinking.

He was too busy watching her that he didn’t notice James’s eyes watching him carefully and warily, a realization dawning on the man.

* * *

Kara was… _lightly_ buzzed after their little celebration, and she was still giggling by the time she returned to her hotel room, trying to slide the key over the lock of the door. She managed to do it right on her third try, and the telltale click of the lock indicated that the door was open.

She entered her room with a sigh, not even feeling tired despite it being far past midnight and the competition and award ceremony they had today. She just wanted to laugh and dance and scream at the same time, and maybe because of her excitement—and that third glass of champagne—she didn’t notice the person standing in her room.

She only noticed him when she turned on the lights. Coming to a stop, she arched her brows at her coach and choreographer staring at her intently. “James?” What was he doing here this late, especially after their celebration? Sure, he seemed really thoughtful by the end, but James was kinda always thoughtful. “What the hell are you doing here?” She had to hold onto the wall next to her to keep herself upright, aaaaaand yep. That last glass of champagne was a mistake.

“There’s something we need to talk about,” James said, crossing his arms. Well. That didn’t sound ominous at all. Even though she was normally curious, Kara had to sigh. She really wasn’t in the mood for a serious conversation.

“Can’t we talk about that… _thing_ tomorrow? I’m a little tipsy, and—“

“It can’t wait till tomorrow,” James interrupted her. Kara cocked her brow. Uh. Okay. She waited for James to continue. “Kara…” he started slowly. “I think Mon-El is in love with you.”

If there was anything that could sober her up from her dizziness, it was _that_. The clouds in her mind scattered around as she straightened up, frowning.

“He… _what?”_ That couldn’t be true. Mon-El, in love with her? _Her?_ They were… They were close, yes, closer than family and much closer than friends, but… _In love?_ No. It was ridiculous. “No, he’s not. That’s ridiculous.” She tried to calm her thundering, blaming it on her fear rather than thinking…

“Trust me, that was what I thought at first. But I saw the way he looked at you today. There was no mistaking his feelings.” Kara stared at James for a couple of seconds, and then she…snorted. She couldn’t think of anything else.

“You…” she said, holding onto the wall, “you must’ve mistaken it, then. We’re really close, James. You know it.”

“And I’m really perceptive.” James seemed so sure of it that Kara started to doubt herself. Could Mon-El really be… “This is a problem, Kara.”

Her thoughts scattered with that. Instead of trying to argue why Mon-El could never be in love with her, her brain went onto the defensive side, this time arguing why it would _not_ be a problem. So…he was in love with her, _let’s say._ Was that any different than the depth of feelings they already had for each other? And…she was sure she’d regret thinking this the moment she sobered up, but there was a part of her that _wanted_ him to be in love with her. That…maybe never forgot her second-grade crush.

“Why?” she asked, crossing her arms. “It’s not like it hurt us until now, right? Knowing about it won’t change anything.” An amused smile appeared on James’s face, a smile that made her feel like a child that didn’t understand anything. She didn’t like the smile.

“It can, because you like him back.” Kara froze. Damn. Was she _that obvious?_

Yet that wasn’t enough for her to back down. She threw her hands in the air overdramatically. “So what? He likes me and I like him. We can get together, fireworks can go off, and all those fans who were already speculating that we were secretly dating can cry happy tears. I don’t see how _that_ is a problem.” Her mind might be going too far as she couldn’t even think straight, but she could see everything even from now. She didn’t imagine anything between her and Mon-El would change with the addition of a relationship, but being with him would mean so much more as well. Feeling the comfort of his arms, his kisses, his touches… She’d always yearned for it, for _him,_ in some way, and if that was…if that was in the romantic sense, why not go for it?

“Okay,” James said, though, crushing her hopes as he still didn’t look convinced. “Let’s say you started dating. Relationships aren’t like partnerships, and in three or four months you could end up arguing every single day over the silliest things. You could end up not wanting to see each other. The chemistry you have now… The chemistry you so tentatively built over the years could be broken easily. And if you want to say that it might also improve, I agree with you. It might, but it might also not. Are you ready to take that risk?” James took a step forward. “Are you prepared to lose him if your relationship doesn’t go well?”

Kara couldn’t even open her mouth at first. A part of her wanted to say that what James described would _never_ happen to them. They were… They were Kara _and_ Mon-El. They were a pair, forever, and you couldn’t separate a pair easily. But she also knew very well that having a relationship was like walking on a tightrope. You never knew what might push you off balance, and it could happen to anyone, even the closest couples.

And if that happened… If she had to stop ice dancing with Mon-El… She didn’t know what she would do with her life.

“So what do you propose that I do?” she couldn’t help asking, pushing back her tears. “It isn’t like I can confront him about it and tell him that we can’t be together. _That_ will certainly hurt our relationship.” _And more importantly, break his heart._ That was the last thing she wanted.

James already seemed like he had an answer to that, as he did to everything. “I think Mon-El cares about you more than he is in love with you, Kara. I’m sure he wouldn’t want to get in your way if he thought you were in a happy relationship.”

 _A happy…relationship?_ “But I’m not in a relationship,” Kara argued, her brain not catching up with what James was implying. “I don’t even like anyone.” _Well, except maybe—_

“You don’t have to be. You just need to _pretend_ to have a boyfriend.” Kara arched her brow.

 _“Pretend?_ James, that’s never going to work,” she argued. If she knew Mon-El, he’d see right through her. “You know I can’t lie to him, and even if I could, don’t you think he’d find it a bit weird if I never introduce my ‘imaginary boyfriend’ to him? We never keep secrets from each other.” _Well, except that he hid his love from me for years, but whatever._

James stopped with that for a second, his brows pulling into a frown. He seemed to agree with her…until a light appeared in his eyes. “What if I pretend to be your boyfriend?” he offered.

Kara was sure that her brain must’ve short-circuited because she certainly couldn’t have heard James right. She narrowed her eyes.

“Excuse me, what?” she asked. James and…her? She couldn’t help feeling sick to her stomach. Not that James wasn’t a great guy, but picturing a relationship with him… She just couldn’t.

“Just until we’re sure Mon-El isn’t in love with you anymore. And then we can stage a breakup. No one needs to know anything, and you and Mon-El… You could continue your partnership as comfortably as possible.” James searched her eyes, looking for an answer.

If this was any other situation, Kara would’ve said no. No, she wouldn’t pretend to have a fake relationship to push Mon-El away. No, she wouldn’t hurt her friend like that. No, she didn’t think it was a problem that they were in love with each other. But it was Mon-El that they were talking about. The fear of losing him clutched her heart so tightly sometimes that she couldn’t breathe. _What would you do to be with Mon-El?_ her mother asked her once when she wanted to be homeschooled instead of going to school so that she could focus more on ice dancing with Mon-El. Her answer was certain and hadn’t changed since. _Everything._

And maybe it was because she was so afraid of losing Mon-El to go to insane lengths, or maybe because she was a bit more vulnerable than usual that night, she found herself nodding without truly thinking about the consequences.

* * *

_So I risk it all just to be with you  
And I risk it all for this life we choose_


	3. Trust and Lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all!!!
> 
> soooo just a forewarning, if i'm mia in the next couple of weeks both on here and on Tumblr, just know that i haven't forgotten any of you or any of my stories; i just have a lot going on right now what with my exams and my theater play coming up and life in general, so i try to keep focused by staying away from social media as much as possible. but i love you all, and i hope you can be a little patient for a while at least :)
> 
> anyway, now that i've gotten that off of my chest, hope you like this! :)

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* * *

 

_I'm trying to hold my breath_  
_Let it stay this way_  
 _Can't let this moment end_  
 _You set off a dream with me_  
 _Getting louder now_  
 _Can you hear it echoing?_

* * *

It had been five months since James came into her room to drop a bomb on her, five months since he offered to fake a relationship, five months since she, in her drunk vulnerability, accepted his plan…and Kara could finally admit she’d made a huge mistake.

In the first couple of weeks, actually, James’s plan seemed to be working. After they announced their relationship, Mon-El had almost instantly become colder. He started to avoid Kara when he used to find every excuse to spend time with her. He started to talk to her less and less, and only when he absolutely had to. Their weekly movie and game nights had reduced to once in two weeks, and then once every month, if that, and only if there was someone else joining them. They still worked pretty much in perfect unison when they were on ice, but it hurt to see their friendship break outside of it. Yet Kara promised herself she’d bear it, as long as at the end unwanted feelings couldn’t threaten what they had.

But after five months of bearing through it… She could admit that it wasn’t working. Mon-El giving her the cold shoulder wasn’t the same as not loving her anymore. He still looked pained whenever James threw his arm around her. He still avoided her gaze when James reached to hold her hand. He still left the room with a cheap excuse whenever James leaned in for a kiss. He still was very much in love with her, and her “relationship” with James was still very much hurting him, and…

And frankly, Kara had enough. She didn’t want to see him hurting anymore, and she hated even more that she was the reason for it. The conversation she had with him merely minutes ago had settled it for her. She’d seen him at the bar of the hotel they’d recently been staying at, with a beer in his hand instead of his usual club soda. Even that was an indication that something was wrong.

And of course, the care she felt for him didn’t allow her to leave him alone. She went up to him, ordering a club soda for herself and sitting by his side.

“Well, you look overly cheerful today.” Mon-El didn’t even roll his eyes at her joke, instead just opting to glance at her. He sighed and leaned back on his stool.

“I’m just a bit tired.”

It didn’t take a genius to know he was lying.

“You obviously aren’t ‘just tired’, and before you continue with that lie, let me remind you that I can see right through any attempt at deceiving me when it comes to you.”

“Great,” he muttered under his breath, taking a swing from his beer. Kara’s chest constricted with that. It was sad to see that he, who’d always been so bubbly and cheerful—enough that you couldn’t help smiling when you looked at him—had become so sad because of her. Because this had to be about her, right? She didn’t remember anything major happening recently.

“Mon-El,” she uttered softly, putting a hand on his to stop him from chugging down his beer. He didn’t particularly enjoy being drunk or the aftermath of it, and drinking certainly couldn’t help with that. She tried to ignore the guilt gnawing at her—even knowing that was what prompted her to help him in the first place—as she urged him, “tell me what’s going on.”

He just stayed silent. Kara felt someone squeeze her heart.

“Hey, I’m your partner, right?” she asked, waiting for him to answer. He nodded almost immediately—at least. “So when something is wrong with you, I can’t let it go. Just… Just talk to me, please. I know we haven’t been doing that much lately, but you can always come to talk to me. You know that, right?”

It took Mon-El a couple of seconds to talk, yet by then his shoulders had slumped and his blank mask had fallen off of his face. “I know,” he said softly, without a hint of anger in his voice. Maybe that hurt her the most, because if he knew what she was doing… If he knew she lied to him, even if it was for their own good… He’d be furious.

He might even hate her, which was a prospect so terrifying that she tried not to think about it much.

“And you know that I just want you to be happy, right? No matter what?”

It took Kara about a second to realize what he meant, to hear his unsaid words. _Even if it hurts me._ And that was the moment, those were the words that settled it for her. She couldn’t continue this lie anymore. She couldn’t continue hurting him, not when… Not when he only wanted her happiness. Not when he’d hide his hurt, he’d sacrifice his happiness if it meant she’d be happy.

“Of course,” she whispered to him, squeezing his hand. “Of course I know that, Mon-El. And I only want your happiness as well.” He smiled at her—a small smile, but a smile nonetheless.

Kara would’ve continued the conversation—God only knew how much she’d missed talking to Mon-El—if it wasn’t for the fact that she saw James enter the bar right at that second. Their eyes met, James smiled widely—sometimes, James acted so much like her boyfriend that she wondered if he was acting at all—walking up to her…until she abruptly stood up. She didn’t want James anywhere close to Mon-El right now—not when she didn’t think she could even pretend to be his girlfriend. Not when anger could overwhelm her common sense.

“I’ll be right back, Mon-El, okay?” she told Mon-El, and without waiting for an answer from him she walked up to James. When he saw who came anyway…he just turned to his beer.

Kara caught James midway to the bar, pressing a hand over his chest to stop him. His smile, upon seeing the serious look on her face, dropped off of his face. He knew something was wrong, and something like fear flashed in his eyes. Kara ignored it.

He’d fed off of her fear too much already.

“We need to talk.”

So that was how she’d ended up here, in her room, with her arms crossed over her chest and James standing in front of her. She didn’t even hesitate before she said the words.

“We can’t do this anymore.” James’s eyes narrowed in response, an indication that he knew very well what she was talking about, yet he opted to play dumb.

“Do what?”

“You know what. This. Us. We can’t fake a relationship anymore.” There, she’d said it, the words that had been circling around in her mind for longer than even she realized it. “It’s very uncomfortable to be around you in public because of it, and frankly, I’m sick of seeing Mon-El get hurt because of me.” She tried to make James understand, with the tone of her voice, that she wouldn’t be backing down—not again—yet the man didn’t seem to get that. He shrugged.

“I don’t understand how him getting hurt is our problem.” He’d said it so calmly, so coolly that Kara couldn’t believe it. She arched her brows.

“How is it our problem? We started this fake relationship because he was in love with me, because we wanted to keep _that_ from hurting us. I think his feelings have to be at the forefront of our minds.”

“Kara—“ James tried to interrupt her, but she didn’t let him.

“And besides, he is my partner and my best friend, so I kind of am obligated to consider his feelings. I don’t want him to get hurt anymore, and that’s that.” She made a move towards the door, ready to open it and ask him to leave, but he stepped in her way. His eyes were twinkling with an anger unlike anything Kara had seen from him before.

“But he’s still in love with you, Kara. That was why we started this fake relationship, right? We can’t give up now.”

Kara sighed. “James, I don’t think Mon-El is going to stop loving me now if he hadn’t done it in the last five months.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I can, actually.” She crossed her arms. “I know him, and I know that when he loves someone, he loves them unconditionally. Me being in a relationship isn’t going to stop him from loving me.” She waited to see if James understood, and when she saw that he did, she continued. “This is over, okay? I won’t change my mind about it. And if that’s okay, I just want to be alone—“

“What if we actually dated?” James cut her words without giving her a chance to finish. Kara stopped, blinking, her mouth dropped open. He couldn’t have just suggested… “If it isn’t fake, we wouldn’t be lying to Mon-El, right? We wouldn’t be intentionally hurting him. There would be no reason for you to feel guilty. And don’t tell me we wouldn’t work well; we did manage to convince everyone we’d been dating for months.”

Kara didn’t know what it was, his words or the arrogance in his voice, but finally, she was able to see through all his façade about stopping Mon-El from loving her. This had never been about that, was it? If it had been, if James had really been looking out for Mon-El, he would’ve accepted her reasons to end their “relationship”. And yet he was fighting, he was even legit asking her out—seriously, so unprofessional, but more of all, _ew—_ which could only mean…

“This was never about Mon-El, wasn’t it?” she couldn’t help asking quietly. “This was about you. You, in your sick, twisted mind”—because only a sick person could intentionally lie and hurt his loved ones to get what he wanted—“thought that you could use Mon-El’s love for me to be with me. You knew he was my vulnerability and that I would do anything to not lose him. You used me.” She stopped for a second. “You used us.”

“That’s not—“ James started, not a hint of apology in his voice, and Kara had had enough. She exploded.

“No! You know what, I don’t want to listen to your damn excuses. You’ve hurt me _and_ Mon-El enough, you…you sick son of a bitch. God, I feel so stupid that I didn’t see through you before.”

“Kara—“ He tried to reach for her arm, but she yanked it away as she walked to the door.

“I’m not listening to you anymore. I just want you to—“ She pulled open the door, looking outside, and her voice died out so quickly that it even surprised her. It took her a couple of seconds to process what was going on, but when she did… Air left her lungs.

Because Mon-El was standing outside the door with tears in his eyes, looking like someone just punched him in the gut.

And people did say that words hurt more than physical wounds, right?

“Mon-El—“ she gasped, wanting to say something, wanting to explain herself—because surely he must’ve heard her conversation with James, right? That was the only explanation of the hurt in his face—yet she couldn’t find anything to say. Was there anything she could say to make this better anyway? She’d already messed everything up, the moment she started this damn fake relationship.

She saw a tear slide down Mon-El’s cheek as he shook his head, and then he turned around and ran away, down the hall. “Mon-El!” she called for him, stepping outside.

She couldn’t even blame him for not stopping.

Tears prickled her eyes as well. Oh God, what had she done? She could feel her heart slamming against her ribs as she stared outside, after Mon-El, yet she didn’t know if it was from fear, heartbreak, or anger.

Oh, anger, though, she certainly felt. Towards a certain someone that was in her room. And since anger was the only non-destructive feeling right now, she diverted her feelings towards that, spinning around to face James.

“You’re fired,” she spat out at him as she walked into her room to grab her room key. “Don’t be here when I come back, or else I’ll call security. And trust me when I say this, I’ll ruin your career for this. I’ll ruin _you_.”

That was the last thing she said to him before rushing out. She didn’t even pay any mind to what James must be feeling. She was beyond caring about that. He could die and go to hell and she wouldn’t blink an eye.

Besides, there was someone else, someone more important to her right now whom she needed to be with, whom she needed to talk to before…before their relationship broke beyond repair.

\------

Mon-El couldn’t breathe.

There was a heaviness in his chest, crushing his lungs underneath. He couldn’t push it up, he couldn’t throw it away, and he certainly couldn’t get air inside his lungs. He was trying, but his breaths came out in short gasps. Was there enough oxygen in the air? Was there even air around, or did he somehow find a way to go to space?

Or did he just find out that his partner, the person he trusted the _most_ in the entire world, had lied to him for months?

He didn’t want to believe it. When he first stopped in front of Kara’s room, ready to knock until he heard her conversation with James, he didn’t want to believe it. It was… It was _Kara._ Kara didn’t lie to him. She didn’t hide stuff from him. What they had was so special that neither of them felt the need for that.

At least Mon-El didn’t. But Kara… He was faking a relationship with _James,_ their coach, so that…so that…

_We started this fake relationship because he was in love with me, because we wanted to keep that from hurting us._

He closed his eyes and leaned onto the bathroom counter to keep himself from falling down.

Kara knew. He didn’t know for how long—it had to be at least five months, right, as James and she were “dating” for five months?—but she knew that he was in love with her. And she thought that love would ruin their partnership, when he would never let that happen. Beyond being in love with her, she was his friend, and that was the most important thing. He would do anything to not ruin that.

And Kara, in an attempt of that, had faked a relationship with James, so that he’d stop loving her. Was the idea of his love that disgusting for her? Was she that uncomfortable that…that she’d resort to lying?

Did she care about him at all? Well, he knew she used to before. They’d been partners for so long, and that certainly would’ve ended earlier if she didn’t. But that care might’ve dissipated in the last couple of years, and she might’ve just wanted to get rid of her. Maybe it was his love that did that. Maybe something else. He didn’t know.

All he knew, as he stared in the mirror—God, how did his eyes look so red already?—that he couldn’t work with her anymore.

There was a reason he and Kara had been so successful in ice dancing: they had a connection that no other couple had, even without being a couple. When they were on ice, they weren’t two separate people, but a soul in two bodies. But behind that unison, there was trust and love, there was understanding and honesty, and right now, Mon-El couldn’t feel that. He couldn’t feel like he could trust Kara’s honesty, and he didn’t think he could dance with her without having doubt crush his heart from inside. With her betrayal, Kara had managed to ruin something that used to make him so happy that it brought him to tears.

Nothing would be the same after today. He didn’t know exactly what it meant right now—and having to live without Kara was a terrifying concept all by itself—but he knew nothing would be the same.

He wiped away his tears, as useless as that was at this point, before he returned to the bedroom, to the closet where his suitcase rested. He couldn’t stay here, not anymore. He had to leave and go…go somewhere. He didn’t know where yet, but he knew he needed to be away. Away from Kara, where he could safely piece together his heart without risking it being broken again. He’d earned enough money throughout the years to sustain him for at least a couple years before he needed to find a new job. He could use that time to put himself back together, and then hunt for a new job—God, a new job. That was something he never thought he’d have to do. He’d thought he’d be doing ice dance forever, if not as an ice skater, then as a coach or a choreographer.

Yet he couldn’t do that with Kara anymore, and without Kara, he didn’t want to do it anyway.

He heard the knock on his door just as he threw the suitcase on his bed. He knew who it was without needing to hear her voice.

He ignored her.

A couple of t-shirts went into the suitcase. Another knock. This time, she called for him as well. “Mon-El?” His jeans followed the t-shirts. Another knock, harsher this time. “Mon-El, I know you’re in there. Can you… Can you please open the door?” Wiping away his tears, Mon-El tried to smooth out the clothes in the suitcase to make room for more. He had avoided his ice dancing clothes promptly at first, yet he knew he’d have to take them eventually.

Kara knocked again. “Mon-El, _please_. I don’t… I want to…” She seemed to be at a loss of words. Despite all common sense, Mon-El couldn’t help stopping in front of his door to stare at it, his tears blurring his vision. “I want to explain myself, but I… I want to do it face-to-face. Can you just… Can you open the door?” Silence engulfed the room for a couple of seconds as they both waited for the other to make the first move. A tear escaped Mon-El’s eyes.

Kara was the one that broke the silence first.

“We’re still partners, right?” she asked quietly. Mon-El knew, somehow, that if he didn’t answer the question now, if he didn’t open the door for her, she’d give up. She’d know the answer was no and that…their partnership was over. As he wanted. As he’d already planned for.

Yet their partnership was such an integral part of his life that tearing it away just like that felt too painful, and he was already opening the door before he could think.

His heart was thundering in his chest when his eyes first met Kara’s. He could barely register her, actually, being so focused on trying to keep himself together. He would be lying if he didn’t admit that…that he hoped seeing Kara might change his mind. That he felt like he could at least forgive her, that he didn’t need to end their partnership, but when he looked at her, all he could feel was pain and betrayal. Kara had lied to him. Maybe if she were someone else it wouldn’t matter this much, but coming from her… He’d trusted her more than he trusted anyone else. He _loved_ her, and when someone you loved lied to you… Well, a stab in the back was a good enough description, Mon-El supposed. You didn’t see it coming, and that was why it hurt the most.

That was why he couldn’t forgive her. Not now. Maybe… Maybe not ever.

The realization was so heavy that he couldn’t look at her anymore. Instead, he turned around, walking into his room, letting the door stay open so that…she could say whatever she came to say. At least… At least he owed it to her to listen to her.

He heard the door being closed behind. “Mon-El… I am so sorry.” Closing his eyes, he laughed.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit late for that?” He hated the way his voice shook, yet he couldn’t help himself. He blinked away his tears. “Five months, Kara. You and…and James have been doing this for _five months_.”

“He tricked me into it—“

“Oh, yeah? So you didn’t choose to fake a relationship with him?” He spun around to face her, despite the pain in his heart, just to see her expression. Guilt filled her eyes as she turned away her gaze. That was answer enough for him. “You had a choice, Kara. And you chose to lie to me.”

Well, at least he wasn’t stuttering.

“I was just trying to protect us,” she said shakily, so much so that she must be on the verge of crying. _Good,_ a vicious part of Mon-El couldn’t help thinking. _Now you know how I feel._

“By lying to me?”

“I didn’t know what else to do! I didn’t want your feelings to get in the way of our partnership!” Mon-El winced with those words. He knew that was her thoughts, but hearing it face-to-face was a harsh blow.

And Kara’s words only seemed to catch up with her when she saw the pain on his face. She closed her eyes. “Mon-El, that’s not what I meant. I just…”

“You know, if you hated my feelings so much, you could’ve talked to me.” His voice came out so quietly that he doubted Kara heard. “You could’ve let me know you felt uncomfortable. You… Kara, you should know that I would never force anything on you.”

“I know,” she whispered, ducking her chin in shame. Mon-El pressed his lips together.

“Then why did you lie to me?”

“…I don’t know.”

That answer… It was all Mon-El needed to make up his mind. It was all he needed to realize for certain that he couldn’t be her partner anymore, not after what happened. He ran his fingers through his hair.

“I don’t know how to live without you,” he admitted, knowing how vulnerable that sounded. “And that’s not just because I love you, Kara, but because I don’t remember a life without you, a life in which we weren’t ice dancing. But right now, looking at you, I don’t know how I can be your partner after what you did to me.”

“Mon-El, I would never do it again—“

“It’s not just that I’m afraid of a repeat of this,” Mon-El dismissed her words. “Kara, I can’t look at you without feeling like someone is ripping my heart out of my chest. I can’t help wondering whether you’re really happy with me or you’re just pretending. I can’t… I can’t _trust_ you.”

“Mon-El, please—“

“I can’t do this anymore, Kara. I’m sorry. I just… I can’t do this.”

“I’m so sorry—“

“Kara, I can’t!” he yelled, looking up at her. He could feel the tears running down his cheeks, yet he didn’t even bother wiping them away. “I just… I need you to leave, okay? I need to be alone right now. I need… I need to be away.” He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the hurt on Kara’s face. He was afraid his will would crack if he did.

Kara stayed silent for a while until she could even speak. “I don’t know how to live without you, either,” she confessed, yet there was something in her voice, a defeat that suggested she didn’t believe she could change his mind. “And if you ever change your mind… If you think you can forgive me, just…just give me a call, okay? I’ll be available. I’ll…always be available for you.”

He heard her shuffle, and it took everything in him not to open his eyes, not to just beg her to stay with him. If only he believed everything could go back to the way it was, he would. But he knew, the moment he learned about Kara’s lie, everything had changed.

“I’m… I’m just gonna go.” That was the last thing Kara said before he heard her turn around. The door of his room opened, and a couple of seconds later it closed, leaving the room in utter silence. He knew that Kara was gone before he opened his eyes, yet a part of him still hoped that she’d be there, that she’d fight for him, for _them._

But he was alone. Utterly alone.

And that was when he broke down completely, tears running down his face and sobs choking up in his throat.

* * *

_All the shine of a thousand spotlights_  
 _All the stars we steal from the_ nightsky  
 _Will never be enough_  
 _Never be enough_


	4. Tickets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello hello y'all!
> 
> well, would you look at that - for once, i'm updating earlier than i planned. well, i mean, not for this particular fanfic, but i've just posted a chapter for another one days ago, and after that instead of procrastinating i decided, huh, why don't i write? lol :) but anyway, i actually really enjoyed writing this chapter, so i hope you like it as well!
> 
> p.s. after this, for those of you who are following my multichapter fics, i am planning to write kind of a long one-shot. it'll actually include characters and couples from all over the Arrowverse (but with Karamel at the center, _duh_ ) so i'm really, really excited about it. it should just be like a humorous, light fic that will hopefully make you smile, so i'm really excited about it. but that also means i might not update the multichaps for some time, but do not worry, my friends, i'm still working on them ;) 
> 
> anyway, if anyone actually read all of that (thank you, first of all, for bearing through my ramble), you can enjoy the chapter now :)

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_'Cause from then, rubble_  
_One remains_  
 _Can only be what's true_  
 _If all was lost_  
 _Is more I gain_  
 _'Cause it led me back_  
 _To you_

* * *

After closing the café’s door and flipping the open sign around, Eve Tessmacher wiped her forehead and reached behind to take off her apron. _The end of another day,_ she couldn’t help thinking. Not that she hated working in this little café—on the contrary, it paid really well compared to many other jobs her friends at college had. On top of it, the hours weren’t terrible either; she found enough time for her studies as well. Especially after the owners hired another barista to help her.

Her eyes flickered to her new coworker—well, slightly new, since the guy had been working here for about two months now. Yet still, the excitement of actually having _him_ here hadn’t subsided for Eve. She remembered the first day he walked through the door, the job advert in his hand. She’d almost dropped the coffee cup in her hand, spilling coffee everywhere.

She was glad she didn’t, though, as coffee stains were a nightmare to deal with.

But in her defense, it was _Mon-El_ that came in. _The_ Mon-El Matthews, one half of the legendary ice dance couple, and whom Eve had been a fan of for years. Well, really, she’d been a fan of him _and_ Kara, as they rarely did anything without each other.

Except that…that they’d broken things off two years ago so abruptly that it’d shocked _everyone._ Just the week before they’d been performing in a show, and then Mon-El was caught leaving their hotel with a suitcase in his hand and tears in his eyes. “Kara and I aren’t partners anymore,” was all he’d said when asked about what was going on.

The news of the “breakup” had spread so quickly that there was no one who didn’t know it the next day. But granted, as much as ice dance wasn’t an all too popular sport, everyone had known about Kara and Mon-El. They were _legends,_ as Eve had said before. Together since childhood, for more than fifteen years. It sounded like a fairytale to anyone, and even those that didn’t tune in to anything ice dance related followed their performances online. When it was revealed that they weren’t partners…people were devastated. Some didn’t even believe it at first, until Kara gave an interview—alone, for the first time—and confirmed the rumors.

Though even then some people chose not to believe it. “They’re Kara and Mon-El,” they’d said. “They can’t break up.” Eve, admittedly, had been one of those people at first—well, she did idealize their relationship, as platonic as it was—until Kara had signed up with another ice dancer and performed her first routine without Mon-El. It…wasn’t the same, everyone agreed after that. Seeing her with someone else wasn’t the same as seeing her with Mon-El. She and him… They had such a connection, such a bond between them that they made everything they did seem magical. Kara didn’t have that with this…this new guy Eve didn’t even remember the name of. And even though she did make a few other appearances here and there with her new partner, Eve’s opinion hadn’t changed.

Mon-El, though… No one had heard from Mon-El since they broke up. People knew he gave up ice dancing—well, _duh_. But beyond that, no one knew what he was doing. They didn’t even know where he was or what he planned to do, now that ice dancing wasn’t in the picture. Eve surely didn’t know…

Until he walked through the very door of her café, asking if the job advert was still on.

Needless to say, Eve was shocked. Speechless. Mon-El literally had to ask the question two more times for her to finally process it, and then once more to actually pull herself together enough to answer. “Um…” she’d stuttered, not knowing where to put her hands. “Um, yes, it is… The position is still open. I mean, if you want it.” He’d nodded curtly, his lips pressed tightly together.

He’d started the next day.

And it took less than an hour for Eve to see that he’d changed—that he wasn’t the same ice dancer she knew and loved. Mon-El… He used to be so cheerful, so genuine, so happy and bubbly and excited that you couldn’t help feeling better just watching him. Now, though… Now he was quiet, he rarely smiled, he didn’t talk if someone didn’t ask him a question, and even then he kept his answers short. There was this…this weight on him that seemed to pull him down and that he couldn’t get rid of. Or…he wasn’t trying to get rid of it anyway.

In fact, he was so quiet that Eve knew very little about him, even after two months of working together. She knew he was going to a college somewhere around here. She knew he lived pretty much alone, and he barely went out just for fun.

She also knew he gave up ice skating completely. She’d dared asking him about it only once, when her curiosity got the better of her. His eyes went icy almost immediately. “I don’t do that anymore,” he’d answered, and…and that was it. She didn’t ask it again. Yes, a couple of months ago, she hoped against hope that Kara and Mon-El could make up somehow, could be partners again, but after meeting him… She just wanted him to be okay, honestly.

Shaking away her thoughts, she smiled as she turned to Mon-El. “I can clean the place up, you can go home,” she told him. The poor boy had been staying late all week, letting her leave early. In fact, he was doing that most of the time, if he didn’t have a pressing business. He deserved a break.

Yet he just smiled at him, as he always did. “No, I got this. You go home.” And he was grabbing the cleaning cloth before she could stop him.

Eve sighed. Damn, Mon-El was stubborn. “No, Mon-El,” she said, walking behind the counter. “You’ve already been doing this the whole week. You deserve to go home early.”

“I don’t mind it—“

“Bup bup bup. Give me that cloth.” Eve opened her hand, arching her brow at him. He pressed his lips together.

“Eve, seriously, I got this. Please go home.” He waited for Eve to move—she was _so not moving,_ FYI—yet when she stayed, he sighed. “I’m not giving you the cloth.”

She snorted. “You think I can’t find myself one?”

“That still won’t make me leave.” Eve narrowed her eyes, yet there was nothing she could do. Defeated, she finally put her apron aside. If Mon-El didn’t want to go home, it was his choice.

Besides… There was a chance that he was staying because he needed a distraction from his life, and she didn’t want to deny him that. It might not be healthy, but it wasn’t her place to tell him that.

“Fine! Fine. But I’m staying tomorrow night.” She walked to the coat rack when she heard Mon-El yell after her.

“We’ll see about that.”

She turned around to stick her tongue out to him. She reached for her bag absentmindedly, yet as she was looking behind her hand instead hit Mon-El’s backpack, causing it to fall down. A couple of pieces of paper scattered on the floor. Great. Mon-El must’ve left it open _again_.

She tried to tidy the place up and put his backpack into place when her eyes caught an all too familiar image. It was a ticket—well, two tickets—for…

She came to a stop. It was a ticket for the _Stars on Ice_ show. Stars on Ice in which, as she read online, Kara would be performing. Mon-El had tickets to Stars on Ice.

She felt a flutter in her chest. Did that mean…

“Mon-El?” she called out for her friend, turning around with a huge grin on her face. Mon-El arched his brow at her. “You didn’t tell me you got tickets for _Stars on Ice_!” She didn’t even notice how he froze with fear as she continued, her excitement getting the better of her. (Though really, she should’ve known Mon-El would never willingly get tickets for any ice skating event, ever. She knew his wounds, whatever they were, still hadn’t healed—not completely.) “Oh my God, you have no idea how much I love this show! It’s like two of my favorite things coming together: ice and music, and—“

She stopped abruptly and jumped with fear when Mon-El appeared literally _in her face,_ pulling the tickets away from her hand. “Don’t touch those.” Eve could only blink at him as he threw the tickets on the counter with shaky hands and leaned over it, as if he needed support. His eyes were closed tightly.

Shoot. She must’ve said something wrong. _Stupid, stupid Eve._

“I… I’m sorry, Mon-El,” she tried to say. “I just assumed—“

“Well, you shouldn’t have.”

“I mean, when I saw that you got the tickets—“

“I didn’t buy the tickets!” He yelled so loudly that she jumped, eyes wide. His gaze turned to her, so intense, yet somehow also so very…vulnerable. “I didn’t buy the tickets,” he repeated, his voice quiet and shaky this time. “They were…sent to me.”

It took Eve a couple of seconds to put the pieces together. _Kara._ Kara must’ve sent those tickets. Among the papers that fell from Mon-El’s bag, Eve had also seen a note.

_Please come next week. I need to talk to you._

_\- K._

She couldn’t get what it was then, but now she knew. It was Kara’s note, asking Mon-El to come. Pleading, really, because even though it was a short note, Eve could almost hear the woman’s desperation in writing it.

“By Kara?” Eve couldn’t help asking, stepping forward. Mon-El didn’t answer, but the way his shoulders tensed was an answer enough. She bit down on her lip. “Are you going?”

Mon-El’s eyes flickered open as Eve held her breath, waiting for him to answer, hoping that it would be a yes. She might not know what had happened between him and Kara, but they’d been partners for years on end. They could surely fix their relationship, right?

Yet before Mon-El even said anything he spun around, moving to the back of the café to go out, to the back garden. Eve thought that could mean two things: Either he wasn’t going to go at all and he was just really offended by even the suggestion of it, or…he was hesitating. He didn’t know. Maybe a part of him did want to go, did want to see Kara, but something was holding him back.

Eve truly hoped it was the latter as she grabbed the tickets and followed him out. She found him on one of the corner tables, sitting on the couch, his face covered with his hands. She approached him tentatively and sat next to him, waiting to see if he’d ask her to go away.

He didn’t.

Taking a deep breath to gather her courage, she started. “Maybe this isn’t my place to ask, Mon-El, but…you never told me what happened between you and Kara.” She bit down on her lip, waiting for him to calm down enough to answer. God, she’d never seen him cry before, and now, seeing him like this… It hurt her in a way she couldn’t explain.

He finally removed his hands from his face. “She lied to me,” he said, surprising Eve. She…honestly didn’t think he’d say anything. “She made me believe that she had a relationship with our previous coach, James, when it was just…” He stopped and gulped. “It was just a hoax to stop _me_ from…from loving her.”

Eve’s eyes widened. _Wait,_ she couldn’t help thinking, _Mon-El really loves Kara?_ She, as many other fans online, had claimed over and over again that a platonic relationship could never be as deep as Mon-El and Kara’s, yet Eve had always thought it was just wishful thinking. But Mon-El… He was basically admitting that it was true. That he really did love Kara.

But…apparently Kara didn’t, enough to fake a relationship. Eve’s brows furrowed. That… That didn’t sound like the Kara she knew. At least she thought she knew, as she’d never met the woman. But Kara had said before just how much her partnership with Mon-El meant to her. She surely wouldn’t do anything to hurt him, right?

“And I was so hurt,” Mon-El continued, “that I couldn’t be her partner anymore. I thought… I thought she didn’t love me. You know, if she could fake a relationship, knowing it would hurt me… How could I believe that she really cared about me? And even beyond that, I couldn’t forgive her for what she did. So I left.” He stared at his hands as if he was seeing something there. Well, maybe he was, maybe he was remembering what had happened between them. Him leaving, and…and what? Something in the tone of his voice told Eve that the story wasn’t done yet.

“And now?” she couldn’t help asking quietly, to not disturb him. “Did something change?”

Mon-El bit down on his lip. “I’m not angry at her anymore,” he confessed with a thin voice, wiping away his tears quickly. “I now know that she was just… You know, she was just trying to protect us in the only way that she knew. And James… James manipulated her into it. He used my love to be with her, and she was… She didn’t realize that until it was too late. And I’ve… I’ve forgiven her.” He stopped for a second. “I still love her.”

Eve couldn’t help smiling. Of course he still loved her. Whatever he felt for her must be true for him to have forgiven her, to try and see things from her point of view, not to justify what she did but understand it. And… Well, only true love could hurt someone this much that they still remembered it after two years.

“She’s so beautiful, you know,” Mon-El continued, as if he needed to get the words out. A smile pulled his lips as well. “And I’m not… I’m not saying that to be cliché or shallow. She’s just… She lights up whatever room she’s in. She’s so happy all the time. I mean, she’s not afraid of it, she’s not afraid of smiling or laughing or enjoying life. And she’s so kind, and generous, and caring… She’s everything. And I… I miss her. Every day I…I miss her. Just being around her, feeling light and…and happy…”

Eve took his hand softly and put the tickets in it. “Then why don’t you take her up on her offer and tell her all of that?” she asked him. Kara had already reached out to him, and if she was already forgiven, then why wasn’t Mon-El accepting her offer?

But with the fear that flickered in Mon-El’s eyes, Eve knew the answer. “I’m afraid she won’t want to be my partner anymore. Not… Not even a relationship, but…”

“Well, you can’t know if you don’t talk to her.” Eve offered him an encouraging smile and closed his hand around the tickets. Mon-El gulped, hesitating for a couple of seconds, before he nodded.

Eve had to restrain himself to not jump to her feet and scream with happiness. She opted for grinning instead.

“Good. Now go out there—“ she started, but Mon-El interrupted her.

“I lied to you.” Eve stopped midway through her sentence.

“What?” _Lied to me?_ Hell, did Mon-El even tell her enough stuff to lie to her about anything?

“I haven’t stopped ice skating,” he admitted, looking at the tickets in his hand. “I’ve… I’ve been going to the ice rink downtown every…every day.” He took in a shuddered breath, not even giving Eve any time to process the good news. “It’s not the same without Kara, but… Ice dancing is a part of me. I can’t tear it out. I can’t…tear her out.”

“Then don’t,” Eve said. “She already reached out to you. Just say yes, and Mon-El, I’m sure it’ll all work out.” Hope flickered in Mon-El’s eyes, a hope so pure that it constricted Eve’s chest. God, the poor guy just loved Kara too much, didn’t he?

“You think so?” Eve didn’t even hesitate as she nodded.

“Absolutely.” She rubbed his shoulder for support, and then quickly leaned forward to press a kiss on his cheek. “It’ll be okay, Mon-El. Really.” He nodded, because honestly, accepting her words was much easier than thinking about the alternative.

He only remembered the tickets in his hand when Eve started to stand up, mumbling something about cleaning up the kitchen. He grabbed her wrist to stop her. “Hey, Eve?” The woman turned to her curiously. “I… I have an extra ticket for the show. Would you want to, um, come with me? If that’s… If that’s okay.” She might be his only friend in this damn town, and he needed her support.

Eve’s face brightened up with the offer. She smiled widely.

“Well, Matthews,” she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “I thought you’d never ask.”

* * *

_From now on_   
_These eyes will not be blinded by the lights_   
_From now on_   
_What's waited till tomorrow starts tonight_   
_Tonight_


	5. Promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello hello, y'all
> 
> so first, i'm sorry this took too long to post, but, well, i was in a summer school for the last couple of weeks, aaaaaaand guess what? THEY DIDN'T HAVE WIFI. ugh. i was so mad when i first found out (i mean, who doesn't have wifi anymore? we're not in medieval times). so even though this chapter was written for at least two and a half weeks, i couldn't post it, because my phone only had enough cellular data for texting my parents to let them know i'm okay and i'm not dead or anything. i did make some good friends with the lack of wifi though, but still...
> 
> anyway, now that the summer school is over and i'm free for like two weeks before going to vacation, i hope to post more. also, remember that secret project i was talking about? (well it's okay if you don't lol, it's been such a long time). i wrote about three chapters in my down time, and hopefully i'll post the first one in a couple of days (i might also tease it on Tumblr, but we'll see) and i'll hopefully catch up with my other WIPs. 
> 
> well, that said, hope you enjoy this last chapter :)

_'Cause every night I lie in bed_  
 _The brightest colors fill my head_  
 _A million dreams are keeping me awake_  
 _I think of what the world could be_  
 _A vision of the one I see_  
 _A million dreams_ is _all it's gonna take_  
 _A million dreams for the world we're gonna make_

* * *

Mon-El couldn’t breathe.

Well, okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration. He could _barely_ breathe, in a way someone could call hyperventilating. His palms also felt sweaty, the collar of his shirt felt too tight, and he felt like he could faint at any moment. Wouldn’t that be great, fainting in the middle of a crowd about half an hour before Stars on Ice?

He felt a hand slipping through his arm to steady him. “Hey, calm down,” Eve whispered in his ear. “It’s all going to be fine.”

He choked out a fake laugh. “Yeah, I’m sure seeing the girl you love, whom you spent fifteen years as partners until she hurt you so badly that you had to separate, will be perfectly fine.” He felt Eve’s glare on her. “What?”

“Well, of course it sounds bad when you put it like that, you idiot.” She briefly looked at the tickets and led him in the right direction before she continued. “But if you look at it as reuniting with your long-time partner whom you love and who loves you, you’ll see that there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“What if Kara doesn’t love me?” He turned to Eve, only to face her exasperated look.

“I don’t think that’s possible.”

“But…what if she only asked me to come to tell me that she’s over me and that…that she doesn’t want me to hope for a reunion?”

“Mon-El, you’re overthinking,” Eve stopped him. “You know Kara better than I do. Do you really think she would do something like that?” Mon-El…had to admit that she wouldn’t. His shoulders slumped as he shook his head no. Eve smiled at him. “There. You have your answer. For whatever reason Kara asked you to come here, I don’t think it was to say goodbye.” She smiled, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “And who knows? Maybe she’s loved you all along as well. Maybe she’s finally ready to tell you, and you can get together and—“

_“Eve,”_ Mon-El warned her. She looked at him sheepishly. “Please don’t.” Not that… Not that he didn’t wish Eve’s words were true. He was just…too scared to hope. He wasn’t lying when he said he still loved Kara. And he still remembered just how much it hurt when he first had to leave her—that kind of pain wasn’t easy to forget. If he put his hopes on her too much, just to end up losing her again… He didn’t think he could live through it.

“I’m sorry, I’m just… This is like a dream come true for me, you know. You have no idea how much I’ve shipped you guys before.” Mon-El arched his brow.

“Well, that’s not awkward at all.”

“I mean, in my defense, I didn’t know you,” Eve tried to defend herself. “You were just celebrities for me. And come on, mainstream media makes a couple out of everyone right now. At some point, you get caught up in it. But at least I stopped that once I got to know you—I just wanted you to be okay and all.”

“I… I don’t know what to say to that.”

“I just wanted you to know that I’ll be here for you even if this thing with Kara turns into something out of a horror movie.” Mon-El rolled his eyes, but at least he also managed a small smile.

“Thank you,” he said genuinely. He was too damn lucky to have Eve as a coworker—no jokes. Anyone else, and they might not want to listen to his problems at all. Anyone else, and they might see him only as a celebrity. But Eve, despite being a fan before, had changed her mind and accepted him as a friend, right when he needed that the most.

They stayed silent as Eve led them to their seats while Mon-El kept his eyes on the ice rink. It had been such a long time since he saw a place like this—not your regular ice rink for the common citizen, but a professional one for shows and competitions. It brought back so many memories he’d had with Kara—all those shows, competitions, songs he still remembered and dances he couldn’t forget. The happiest times of his life—they all had been with Kara. Every happy memory, every excitement, every adventure he held dear to his heart had Kara in it.

That was why it had been so hard to leave her in the first place, but that was also why he had to leave her. Kara had betrayed him, and maybe he could handle the betrayal of someone else, but not hers. Not the person closest to him. Yet that was also what made him forgive her. Once the initial pain of the betrayal passed, he realized he loved Kara too much to let this get in between them. It wasn’t that he was okay with it, what she did was wrong, but he was able to forgive her for that.

Wasn’t life all about that, anyway? Everyone hurt their loved ones at some point, whether intentionally or not. It was just a matter of what you could forgive and what you couldn’t. And Kara’s betrayal… Mon-El felt like he could forgive her for that.

“Um, Mon-El?” He slipped away from his thoughts with Eve’s words and realized they were standing next to two empty seats—two empty front seats. “You didn’t tell me Kara got you front row seats.”

His eyes flickered to the ticket. He hadn’t paid attention to that before, but… “I didn’t realize that,” he said as his heart skipped a beat. If she went to great lengths to secure him front row seats—even for performers it wasn’t that easy—that meant she had to at least care…somewhat? Right?

“Oh my God, this is awesome!” Eve shrieked as she took her seat, patting next to her for Mon-El to sit down. “I can’t believe this is actually happening right now. This is just… This is everything.”

Mon-El forced a smile as he sat down as well, unable to share her excitement with the ball of stress growing in the pit of his stomach. It was the first time he was going to see Kara live in the last two years. It was the first time they’d be under the same roof. It was unnerving at best, terrifying at worst. There was just too much that could go wrong.

But there was also a lot that could go right.

He tried to hold onto that thought as the lights went down. The notes from a guitar filled the stadium before the stage was illuminated, and…

Mon-El sucked in a sharp breath. It was Kara. She was… She was there, and she was real, and it was too overwhelming and too beautiful at the same time that he could barely believe it at first. She was wearing a simple red dress—not that the dress made her look simple. Not at all. She looked stunning, as always, a soft smile on her lips as she got into the role of whatever the dance required.

And he didn’t know whether it was because he knew her so well, or he was just too hopeful, but he felt like this song…this dance… Kara had chosen it all for him. It wasn’t a happy-go-lucky love song, but it wasn’t depressing either. It was an apology song. A confession that she’d let go of someone she shouldn’t have, that she’d hurt someone she truly cared about, but she wasn’t wallowing in sadness. She was…hopeful. The performance was hopeful. It was asking for forgiveness, it was reaching out to the other person, hoping they would hold the extended hand. It wasn’t giving up—just the opposite. It was _trying._

And Mon-El was mesmerized. So much so that he barely heard Eve when the girl whispered in his ear: “See, I told you Kara loved you.”

He blinked away his tears and nodded, his eyes on Kara. He was so caught up by her performance that he forgot to clap when it ended. He forgot to even move. She was there. The love of his life was there, on the ice rink, apologizing and asking for forgiveness. Asking for him to hold the hand she had extended.

When Kara opened her eyes after the performance, her eyes flickered around the room, to exactly where Mon-El was sitting. As if she knew where he would be—well, she did buy the tickets. Her eyes met with Mon-El’s. At first, she seemed surprised, like she didn’t expect him to come.

Honestly, he didn’t expect to come either.

But then a smile pulled her lips. A small smile, but a smile nonetheless. A smile that brightened the dark corners of Mon-El’s soul, bringing him back the hope he’d thought he’d lost.

He found himself smiling back without his intention, bonding with Kara at that moment, as if there wasn’t any distance between them. As if they hadn’t stayed away from each other for two years. As if they were partners again—and something more.

As if after two years of struggling to live without each other, they were finally home.

(And when an employee of the ice rink came to him right after the show to give him the address of Kara’s hotel, there was no doubt in Mon-El’s mind that he’d go see her. Eve didn’t even have to push him into it—though admittedly, when she dropped him off at the hotel, she was grinning like a lunatic, and told him that she’d kill him if he didn’t “make up” with Kara. Admittedly, she could’ve also said “make out”, but since the thought of that was enough to make Mon-El blush, he’d decided to interpret it the other way.)

* * *

_Room 213. This must be it._ Mon-El lifted his head from the card in his hand to look at the door. The door, behind which stood Kara, and… Well, it would be an understatement to say he was nervous. Even seeing her out on the ice rink had been like a punch in the gut—in a good way, but still. Once he actually saw her this close…

No. He wasn’t going to let the past control him anymore. He’d already forgiven Kara, and she went to great lengths to prove she wanted him back in her life. Maybe they couldn’t just forget the past, but they could let go of it. They could agree that they wouldn’t let it get in the way of their relationship anymore.

Whether platonic or…romantic.

Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door. The lock clicked merely seconds later, the door was pulled open, and…

And Kara was there. Looking as breathtaking as always. No, it wasn’t because she was still in her clothes for Stars on Ice. She’d already changed into white sweats and threw a blue cardigan around her shoulders. No, her hair wasn’t impeccable, it was only pulled into a messy bun. She’d even taken off her makeup. But that wasn’t why she was breathtaking. It wasn’t about her looks, but about who she was.

He remembered something that his mother told him when he was young. Well, not that young, but he was in high school and he’d broken up with his girlfriend because he couldn’t enjoy his relationship with her. And people had told him he was crazy—well, who would break up with a beautiful girl like that, right? But his mother told him what he maybe couldn’t understand then, but helped him his whole life. “Mon-El, you might be attracted to someone because of their outer beauty. It’s human nature. But you don’t stay with someone because they’re beautiful. You stay with them and love them because of who they are inside, and that has nothing to do with how they look outside. Even the ugliest person outside can seem like the most beautiful person to you once you get to know them.”

And hadn’t his mother been right? Sure, he found Kara beautiful outside too, but that was just it. He doubted he’d find her beautiful if it wasn’t for her inner beauty. If it wasn’t for who she was. Her hair wasn’t beautiful because of how it looked, but because of the adorable way she played with it when she was nervous. Her lips were beautiful because of her smile and her laugh. Her eyes were beautiful, not for their blue, but for the way they shone with happiness and reflected the kindness of her heart.

It was just very easy to find beauty in everyone once you loved their soul.

Kara looked at him expectantly, a smile pulling her lips. She must’ve known that he was coming, at least after seeing him at the event, yet knowing wasn’t being sure, and when feelings were involved… There was always a shred of doubt. “Hey,” she whispered. “You came.”

“Yeah.” He offered her a small smile, just so that she could know he wasn’t mad at her. Not anymore.

Kara stepped back to let him in, closing the door behind her. A silence stretched between them for a couple of seconds—the kind of silence that was common when you saw someone after a long time. It was Kara who broke it first with a clear of her throat. “I think… I think I owe you an apology.”

Mon-El’s face softened. He turned to her. “Kara—“ he tried to say, but she stopped him.

“Don’t tell me I don’t. I hurt you so badly, Mon-El,” She wrapped her arms around her as if she felt cold. As much as Mon-El wanted to comfort her…he couldn’t deny what she said. She had broken his heart. “You were the most important person to me in the world, and yet I… There’s no excuse to what I did.”

“Kara, I understand—“

“There’s nothing to understand,” she argued, shaking her head. She reached up to tug the collar of her cardigan. “Sure, I could… I could tell you that I was just trying to protect our friendship and prevent our feelings from ruining it. I could say that James manipulated my one weakness to get in my pants. But it was still my decision. I chose to lie to you. I chose to fake a relationship.”

“Well, you just proved my point about understanding.” He stepped forward to close the distance between them. “Kara, I know that you didn’t hurt me for the sake of hurting me. As you said, James manipulated you, and in a way, you were just doing what you thought would be best for us. I don’t blame you for that.”

Kara’s eyes were tear-strained as she looked up at him. “I blame myself,” she said quietly. Of course. Mon-El wasn’t even surprised about that. “I broke your trust. You believed in me, and I hurt you so much that you didn’t even want to see me.”

“Everything was so fresh then. I was angry. I didn’t know what to think. It took me a bit of time to realize I…I didn’t want to lose you over one lie.” He took in a shaky breath. “You were…right to feel uncomfortable with my feelings, even if I didn’t act on them. Anybody would—“

“But that’s the thing, Mon-El,” she interrupted him, stepping forward to put her hands on Mon-El’s chest. His heart jumped in his chest as he suddenly forgot what he even intended to say. After being apart from Kara for two years, suddenly being so close to her…

Kara closed her eyes and ducked her chin. “I didn’t feel uncomfortable with your feelings. I didn’t think they were wrong. James was the one who made me believe a romantic relationship would ruin us. But I…” She looked at him through her lashes, and that was when Mon-El realized that she was crying. “I didn’t want that. I thought we could make it work, because I loved you back, Mon-El.”

Air left Mon-El’s lungs. Kara…loved him?

“I loved you and I wanted to be with you, but James scared me so much that…that I thought I would lose you. And I couldn’t deal with that thought. I know…it’s too late now, and I know you will never love me again after what I did, but I just wanted you to know that you shouldn’t feel bad about falling for me when—“

Mon-El cut her ramble by leaning down and pressing his lips on hers. He’d hesitated at first—was he really ready to give his heart to someone who’s broken it so badly? But he also remembered… Kara had protected his heart so much more than she’d broken it. She’d stayed by his side all those years, not only as his ice dance partner but as his friend. There was a reason people were always talking about their chemistry: because they worked together so well. And now, he could see that she was telling the complete truth. She wasn’t twisting the story to get what she wanted. She’d reached out to him to apologize, to tell him her side of the story, not for forgiveness but because she believed it needed to be said. That he needed to know it.

In the end, considering all that, how could he _not_ love her?

His eyes fluttered close as he gave all of himself to the kiss, melting in Kara’s arms, in what he’d dreamed of more than he’d like to admit. This… This was a dream come true. Being with someone you thought you could never have. He’d always thought he and Kara would always stay as friends, so to have this now…

It felt incredible.

He pulled back when he started feeling breathless, opening his eyes to look at Kara. To say that she looked shocked would be an understatement. He smiled at her and caressed her cheek.

“You’re forgiven, Kara,” he whispered softly. “And I love you.”

He didn’t need to say more than that. A huge smile pulled Kara’s lips, and this time, the tears were streaming down her face out of happiness. She pulled him into a tight hug, burying her face on his shoulder. He hugged her back with a laugh, a laugh that finally, after two years, felt real.

“God I missed you,” he whispered in her ear. She nodded.

“Me too. It… It wasn’t the same without you.” They both knew what she was talking about. “Nothing was the same without you. And I…” She pulled back, as if she wanted to look at his face. “I know that maybe you’ve built another life for yourself now, but I don’t want to do ice dancing without you. I wanted to ask—“

“Yes.” Mon-El didn’t even hesitate. “Yes. I want to be your partner again.”

Kara’s face lit up. “Really?”

“I’ve never been surer.” He smiled at Kara, pulling her into another tight hug. “Let’s just promise to never leave each other again, okay?” he whispered, just needing to hear that confirmation. Needing to hear she would be with him forever—or whatever time they had.

She felt Kara smile as well, snuggling into his embrace. “Promise.”

(And they did make their promise come true, because despite what James claimed years ago, such a true love as they shared could never crash and burn.)

* * *

_However big, however small_  
 _Let me be part of it all_  
 _Share your dreams with me_  
 _You may be right, you may be wrong_  
 _But say that you'll bring me along_  
 _To the world you see_  
 _To the_ world _I close my eyes to see_


End file.
